Location:Tel-Aviv, Israel
Department:Engineering
At Navan, “It’s all about the user. All of them.” We’re building the next generation of AI-first business travel, where experiences are not just seamless—but tailored to each traveler, in real time. Our agentic platform is at the core of that transformation: a smart, proactive travel assistant that anticipates needs, adapts to context, and evolves with the user.
We are seeking a Senior Data Scientist to lead the development of personalization models that power our AI agents. In this role, you’ll design and deploy intelligent systems that understand each traveler’s preferences, intent, and behavior—transforming complex user journeys into effortless, hyper-personalized experiences.This is a high-impact, cross-functional role working closely with product managers, engineers, designers, and the AI/LLM platform team to create deeply personalized, autonomous travel assistance that feels like magic (but is all math and modeling underneath).
What You’ll Do:
Design and build machine learning models that power personalization across our agentic platform, including traveler profiles, flights & hotels recommendation engines, and behavioral prediction systems.
Develop algorithms that adapt and learn from user behavior over time, channels, and modalities (text, voice, action).
Collaborate with PMs, engineers, and conversational designers to integrate ML into real-time decision loops, conversational agents, and proactive UX flows.
Own experimentation pipelines and performance evaluation, AB tests, offline metrics, and production agent behavior.
Work hands-on with structured and unstructured data (e.g., travel history, chat logs, user feedback, booking behavior) to extract insights and drive model improvement.
Define and maintain robust MLops practices: monitoring, retraining, feature pipelines, and real-time inference.
Stay current with the latest in recommender systems, LLM integration, embeddings, retrieval augmentation, and agentic reasoning to continuously evolve our approach.
What We’re Looking For:
5+ years of experience in applied data science or machine learning roles, with a strong focus on personalization, recommender systems, or predictive modeling.
Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks
Strong grounding in data pipelines and working knowledge of tools such as SQL, Spark, Airflow, and modern MLOps stacks.
Experience building real-time or near-real-time recommendation systems at scale.
Bonus points for working with conversational agents, LLM-based systems (e.g. RAG, prompt engineering), or user embeddings.
Passion for crafting user-centric AI, and curiosity about human behavior in the context of travel
Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly and collaborate cross-functionally with product, design, and engineering teams.
Join Navan and help shape a future where travel doesn’t just respond to a user’s query, it anticipates it. Let’s build AI that truly knows you, and travels with you.
Navan About Us
Navan is the all-in-one super app that makes travel and expense easy so you can focus on being there, not getting there. Say goodbye to spending hours on the phone trying to change your flight or saving stacks of receipts to manually input expenses. From EAs and finance teams to travel managers and employees, Navan empowers people to focus on the things that matter most to them — all while providing companies with real-time visibility, savings, and control.
Navan’s investors include visionaries like Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Ventures, Greenoaks, Zeev Ventures, and entrepreneurs Lee Fixel, Adam Bain, and Elad Gil. Valued at $9.2B, Navan is well-positioned for continued growth as it continues its takeover of the travel and expense market.
In April 2023, Navan expanded in the Indian market with the acquisition of Tripeur, a modern, people-centric corporate travel and expense management company. The group’s fifth acquisition in under two years, Tripeur joined the Navan Group alongside Spanish meetings and events specialists, Atlanta Events & Corporate Travel Consultants; Berlin-based modern travel management company, Comtravo; leading Scandinavian travel agency Resia AB; and London-based high-touch TMC, Reed & Mackay — the latter of which remains a standalone brand.
At Navan, we’re never satisfied with the status quo, and we know breakthrough ideas come from diverse perspectives. We are committed to cultivating a workplace that reflects the diversity of the customers we serve while fostering leadership and innovation. All voices are valued here and you’ll have the resources, tools, and training you’ll need to do the best work of your life.
Our Benefits
Navan provides a comprehensive benefits package tailored to support your well-being and financial security. Our offerings include generous medical plans, dental, and vision benefits with premiums covered by Navan, as well as various insurance options designed to cover each family's needs. We also prioritize your holistic wellness with perks like paid parental and bereavement leave, subsidized commuter benefits, mental health support, connectivity stipends, and even pet insurance.
Workplace Policy
Navan believes in the value of in-person connections, whether that is sitting down to have lunch with one another, taking a walking 1:1, or collaborating in a room together. The connections forged through face-to-face interactions improve company culture and drive business results. Navan invests in global office spaces — in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, among others — that feel welcoming. Perks such as lunches and happy hours create a strong team environment to help you do your best work. We prioritize in-person connections and operate on a four-day-in-office work model. Please expect this policy for all roles that are tied to an office.
Equal Opportunity
Navan is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based solely on merit. We provide equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees without discrimination on the bases of race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We prohibit any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring.
Accommodations
Navan complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act, and all applicable state or local law. Navan will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability in connection with applications for employment as required by law.
If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, you are welcome to email us at talent-accommodations@navan.com.
Candidate Privacy Notice
Please review Navan's Candidate Privacy Notice here.
Job Search Best Practices
We have been made aware of recruitment scams involving fraudulent attempts to lure job seekers into sending money or personal information in return for fake job offers or coerce them into purchasing equipment by electronic funds transfer (Zelle, Venmo, etc.) Legitimate Navan recruiters will never ask for money in any recruitment or onboarding activities. All available job openings at Navan will be posted on Navan’s website and all Navan recruiters will be reachable through an email address ending in “@navan.com” or “@navan.tech” or "@talent.navan.com".